Backup Exec 2014 SP1 unable to prepare Microsoft SQL resources for GRT

[JD8888]

Getting the following error when backing up a virtual machine guest on Hyper-V host:

V-79-57344-38749 - Backup Exec was unable to prepare Microsoft SQL resources for Granular Recovery Technology (GRT) ...

Using Backup Exec 2014 SP1 just installed on a Windows 2012 R2 Standard Ed cluster system with two nodes. Other VM's and the two Hyper-V servers appear to complete okay. The guest machine is running Windows Server 2008 R2 and is using GPT disk. SQL Server 2012 is installed on this VM as well housing several databases. BE 2014 agent is installed on the VM as well.

All the references I've seen to this error imply the issue is with a GPT disk on a guest machine with SQL installed. But, they indicate this is supported since Backup Exec 2012 (SP2 I think).

[pkh]

Is your GPT disk a basic or a dynamic disk?  GRT is not supported for dynamic GPT disks.  See page 31 of the SCL below

http://www.symantec.com/docs/TECH217478

[JD8888]

Hi, Thanks for the reply.

Turns out it is basic, but i was wrong about it being GPT. When I checked the properties of the disk it shows as MBR. I was likely confused by the 100MB system partition at the beginning of the disk. So, it's a basic disk with MBR and is getting this error. Everything else I can find in the SCL you indicated seems to check out. Checking on the SQL version it reports that it's SQL 2012 Express x86-64.

[pkh]

Give the utility partition a drive letter and try again

[JD8888]

OK, thanks. I'll let you know how it goes.

[JD8888]

Ended up with the same error.

[VJware]

Common causes are if the VM's config is not supported for GRT (The SCL mentions as to what isn't supported) or if the BE account does not have sufficient privileges/rights (such as sysadmin) to backup SQL.

And as this is a generic error, debugging will help us narrow down the cause of App-GRT failure.

[JD8888]

After a couple attempts I guess I don't see how to get debugging setup. I'm getting results in the log folder and in the debug monitor but there doesn't seem to be anything related to the SQL / GRT issue.  Can anyone point me to how I should setup debugging to capture this information?

dbagents folder under logs is empty, if that's where I'm supposed to see this.

Thanks.

[VJware]

Will be easier to log a formal support case instead. Else if you prefer to do so, open SGMon.exe (or Collect Debug Output) on the BE media server and the remote servers. (Hyper-V host and the SQL VM)  and can follow this KB - http://www.symantec.com/business/support/index?page=content&id=TECH204389

[Colin_Weaver]

As you have mentioned the word cluster and hyper-V in your description I hope that SQL is not in a clustered setup within VMs? As if it is GRT is not supported for distributed technologies within a virtual system backup operation.

Note if your hyper-v hosts are clustered this is not an issue, the limitation is against a cluster (or things like Sharepoint farm's, Exchange DAGs etc) in a virtual configuration that directly links separate VMs together in some way, In this instance that traditional agent backups will be needed to get at individual data objects (Fiels, SQL databases, Exchange e-mails etc) 

[JD8888]

Regarding clustering, we have a two node Hyper-V cluster configured with SQL server running within one of the Guests. There is no clustering of SQL configured, replication, or clustering of VM's as you describe so I think it should be okay as far as supported platforms, environements, and agents as you've mentioned. It's all fairly simple so far as clustering goes.

I'm still adding additional machines to the cluster so once I get everything to a stable point I'll open a support case and chase it down that way.

Thanks for all your help.